Biotechnology News – Latest Headlines

Recent advances in imaging technology are transforming how scientists see the cellular universe, showing the form and movement of once grainy and blurred structures in stunning detail. But extracting the torrent of information contained in those images often surpasses the limits of existing computational resources. Now, researchers have created a new computational method to rapidly track the three-dimensional movements of cells in such data-rich images.

Scientists were able to measure the amount of protein molecules in living human cells required to form an important structure of the chromosome, the centromere. This study presents new methodologies that may also be used to unveil other biological problems.

Researchers developed a new technique to quickly uncover novel, medically relevant products produced by bacteria. Past techniques involved screening more than 10,000 samples to find a novel product, but the method yielded a novel product after screening just a few dozen soil bacteria.

The ability to reliably and safely make in the laboratory all of the different types of cells in human blood is one key step closer to reality. Stem cell researchers now report the discovery of two genetic programs responsible for taking blank-slate stem cells and turning them into both red and the array of white cells that make up human blood.

European scientists are experimenting with bacteria and algae and turn them into bioplastic factories. Their vision: these microorganisms should produce a large portion of our plastic materials without any petroleum.

Injury to the retina and optic nerve leads to irreversible loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and irreparable damage to their axons which ultimately leads to blindness. Providing a sustained source of neurotrophic growth factors is required to promote their survival and regeneration. Transplanted dental pulp stem cells secrete multiple growth factors which protect RGCs from death after optic nerve injury and promote regeneration of their axons.

A breakthrough discovery into how living cells process and respond to chemical information could help advance the development of treatments for a large number of cancers and other cellular disorders that have been resistant to therapy.